Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Some people who think that everything is a nail, are down on themselves because they are not a hammer. They tend to deprecate their own unique talents and capacities to use a chisel or a pair of pliers.
—Unknown
Genuine confidence is a way of thinking about yourself and your abilities. Confidence is your perception of your own potential; it’s a kind of long-term thinking that powers you through the obstacles and tough times, helping you solve problems and putting you in the way of success. Your confidence is quite a separate matter from your social skills.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Are you closer right now to where you want to be than you were a half-hour ago?
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
And what is the potential man, after all? Is he not the sum of all that is human? Divine, in other words?
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
It’s the moment you think you can’t that you realize you can.
—Celine Dion (b.1968) Canadian Singer
Possibilitizing is overcoming while you’re undergoing.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist.
—Max Lerner (1902–92) Russian-born American Journalist
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end.
—Anonymous
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done. If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Aristotle said, ‘Time does not exist except for change.’ The origin of the word change is the Old English cambium, which means “to become”. In other words, time does not exist except for becoming something new. What, exactly, are you choosing to become?
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.
—Joe DiMaggio (1914–99) American Baseball Player
The possibilities of creative effort connected with the subconscious mind are stupendous and imponderable. They inspire one with awe.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Look at things… as they can be.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
Questions provide the key to unlocking our unlimited potential.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities—always see them, for they’re always there.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Oh man! There is no planet sun or star could hold you, if you but knew what you are. You are capable of doing and becoming more than you might imagine.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
It’s a sin to be poor! He wasn’t referring to moral turpitude, but rather to “the frustration of potentiality”. He believed and taught that, when we establish ourselves in the consciousness of God, the whole universe moves to flow into us with its abundance of life and substance. This is obviously what Jesus had in mind when he said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well”.
—Unknown
Yes, there are times when the gold medal only goes to the winner. But not in the race of life, where the winners are those who are superior not to others but to their former selves.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
What’s the most exceptional thing you’ve done this week? What’s the most exceptional thing you will do next week?
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
She didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so she went ahead and did it.
—Unknown
Everyone’s got it in him, if he’ll only make up his mind and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his powers or with a set limit to his capacities, There’s no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
Only the person of worth can recognize the worth in others.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
It is impossible to underrate human intelligence—beginning with one’s own.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.
—Sam Walton (1918–92) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential—for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Thou hast seen nothing yet.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
An old colored brother is said to have finished his prayer with words like these: and now good Lord; I know that you ain’t going to let nothing come to me that me and you together can’t handle.
—Unknown
Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Every organism has one and only one central need in life, to fulfill its own potentialities.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
It is heartening to realize that although we may crave comfort and routine, we nourish the soul’s growth primarily through what is hard. As Darwin saw it, it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to change.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people’s lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author